In the Blink of an Eye
by Suji
Summary: Lily and James are best friends and are thrilled to find out that they will be going to school together. However, soon enough after they arrive, their friendship begins to fall apart with the entrance of Lily's new love interest...RR please!
1. Realizations

From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of An Eye

A/N: Hey! This is my first story and I'm really excited about it! J It would be great if you could r/r pretty please!! Thanks so much!

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork… follow them through friends, school, pranks and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Disclaimer: Obviously, the characters Lily and James are owned by JKR and _not _little Ms. Me. 

Realizations

            Lily Evans pulled a sweater over her head and straightened her outfit nervously. She glanced in the mirror yet again, looking over her face, just starting to tan again with the beginning of June and the reemergence of the sun. It was her favorite time of year. Not only because her birthday was at the end of May, but because she couldn't stand the winter and loved feeling the sun after so long. She started to pull her long and curly red hair up into a ponytail and then sighed, frustrated.

            "Pull yourself together, Lily!" she demanded. "It's just James Potter, the same James who you have been friends with for _years_. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?" Of course the annoying voice in the back of her head had to reply,

            "Because you're not just going for any reason—I mean, you're going to tell him you're a _witch_. And you know how most people react to that. Take Petunia for example!" After a few more seconds of arguing with herself she exclaimed, 

            "That's it! I'm going! If he doesn't want to be my friend after this, then it's _his _loss, not mine!" She stalked out of the house and slammed the door with a determined look on her face. She walked across the street and up the steps to James' house, which he moved into three years back. It was located in Godric's Hollow, the neighborhood Lily was born and raised in. She brought her hand up to knock on the door and then paused, the voice in her head protesting unceasingly. She was caught again between telling him and walking away when the great oak doors opened. 

            "Lily!" cried an 11-year-old boy. He was about the same height as her, with uncontrollable black hair and gorgeous hazel eyes covered by a thin pair of glasses. Lily froze, knowing there was no way out of her confession. She chuckled nervously.

            "James, fancy meeting you here…"

            "Well, you _are_ on my doorstep," he stated simply, eyeing her suspiciously. 

            "Right. Right. I actually have something I wanted to tell you," she began cautiously.

            "Sure, why don't we go to the park?" 

            "Alright. So, um, it…it was my birthday a few days ago," she managed.

            "Yes…I know that Lily, and I gave you your present…what's your point?" James was starting to get a little exasperated.

            "Yeah, yeah. Great present, by the way. I really loved it! It's just great…" she stammered. Then she shook her head, realizing that procrastinating wasn't going to help much. "Okay, okay, so I…I…I got this letter, a strange letter. But I have reason to believe it's true…um, yeah, so, it um, says…" she trailed off yet again. "James, I understand if you're upset or don't want to be friends with me after I tell you this. I mean, that's how my sister reacted, and I completely understand. And, yeah, I'll understand…"

            "Lily, I get it! What are you trying to tell me?" James shouted, finally fed up.

            "Don't get mad at me! I'm trying to tell you something important!" she yelled back at him. "I'm trying to tell you that I'm a witch!" She then blushed furiously, realizing that she had said that quite loud. She stared intently at the grass and braced herself for his reaction. After a few seconds of silence she looked up fearfully. He was grinning! Grinning like an idiot, like James always did. 

            "Lily that has to be the best thing I've ever heard! You're a witch? Guess what? I'm a wizard! Always have been, always will be," he added proudly. She was too shocked to retort to his arrogance like she normally did. Instead, she simply faced him with her mouth wide open. 

            "You…you…." Then it dawned on her. "James!" She screamed, "James!" unable to say any more, she simply enveloped him in a bear hug. He was overwhelmed but quickly gathered her up in his arms. "That's so amazing! You've been one your whole life? Wow, that makes sense. That's why I've never been to your house, and why I don't know where you go to school! Oh, James, you have to teach me everything! I'm so excited! Tell me everything you know, I feel so left out! This is going to be so much fun! We'll…" she didn't get to finish, however, because James cut her off.

            "Wait, Lily, you found out from a letter on your eleventh birthday. What school are you going to?" She had gotten ready to lecture him for interrupting her, for it was one of her biggest pet peeves, but then realized he had a point.

            "I'm going to a place called Hogwarts. And you?" James emitted a noise that would be known as a squeal had he been a girl. He then quickly cleared his throat and amended in a gruff voice,

            "Yeah, yeah, me too." It was Lily's turn to squeal and she hugged him again. 

            "James! We're going to school together! How groovy is that?" He held her tightly and grinned, thinking,

            "This is going to be the best year _ever_!"

* * * *

A/N: So what'd you think?? I'd love to hear your feedback…you know what to do! If anyone has criticisms (kind ones, of course…) or suggestions about the plot I'd love to hear them and will try to improve! I have a basic plot idea planned out. I'm thinking of showing first year and maybe a little of second (but this is tentative…) then skipping to 6th, where the fun really begins! Thanks for listening to my rambling…once again—REVIEW!!

Also (sorry, sorry, I'll stop talking after this, I swear!), I don't really like the title…any suggestions? And tell me if you think the summary's too cheesy/not interesting enough…thanks again!


	2. Diagon Alley

From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of An Eye

A/N: Yay! I got reviews!!! Wow, you don't know how happy your reviews made me!! I realize it was only 5 (or is at the moment that I'm writing this…hopefully that number will grow!) but when I checked my mail and had those emails containing the reviews…wow, excited is all I can say ;) So, this chapter is dedicated to my super-duper-fabuloso (hehe) reviewers: Dee Ann (thanks! Glad you like it—I love cutesy lol) Ms. Lady Padfoot (I'm updating! I'm updating!), Summerlove (yay! Glad you like it!), child-of-scorpio (that's awesome ;) I tried to make it as realistic as possible, glad to know I achieved my goal! Btw I love your story Truth of the Heart I shall now review it!) and my very first reviewer munsje!! (I'm very happy to know you liked it!! I think it was a surprise b/c, as I have just realized, I can't write summaries…if you have any ideas do tell! Oh and also…I'm going to try and make this longer just for you. J) 

Okey-dokey, now on with the chapter! 

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork… follow them through friends, school, pranks and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and _not _little Ms. Me. 

Diagon Alley 

Lily stretched and yawned lazily, turning over in her bed to snuggle more effectively in her huge comforter. She soon realized that she was completely and irreversibly awake for the morning and resigned herself to rubbing her eyes and checking her watch groggily. It was 11:00. She padded down the stairs softly, praying that no one would see her still in her pajamas. Lily was a late sleeper, a _very_ late sleeper, getting up in the morning was a school thing, and if it was not school, there was no waking up early. However, her mother didn't really like this philosophy of hers, and just the day before had given her a lecture on wasting the day. 

"Yeah right," thought Lily, "I get all the important things done at night!" But it didn't matter what she thought, as her mother's word was law in her house. That was why at eleven in the morning, two hours after the time she was supposed to wake up, Lily's hair hadn't been brushed, she hadn't eaten breakfast, and she was still in her pajamas. She finally decided that the coast was clear and walked into the kitchen, tickled pink that she hadn't been caught. She sat down and started to eat Lucky Charms, saving the marshmallows for last when she would eat them in order of color, and was scared out of her mind when two arms started tickling her mercilessly. 

"Ahh! James! James, stop! What are you doing here?" She demanded angrily, for he had ruined her good mood.

"Lily! You don't remember? How could you not remember that you have a date with _ME _this fine day?" He asked.

"_Of course _I remembered, James," In truth she had completely forgotten but who was he to know these things? "I was about to get ready. And for you information, it's not a date. And never will be," she added as he opened his mouth in protest. "_James_," she said in the threatening way only she had mastered. 

"Okay, I'm too excited to care anyways, you're going to Diagon Alley for the first time today!" he exclaimed. "Oh, and by the way, did I mention that my friend Sirius is coming? Sirius Black. You haven't met him, as I always have believed that you were a muggle, but now that you know of magic you can meet him! Just remember one thing," he said, his voice dropping and his expression becoming completely serious. Lily knew it had to be very important, she had only seen that expression on her friend's face once before, and she didn't want to relive that moment. "His family doesn't know that he's meeting us. Lily, I've been avoiding telling you this but I think it's something you should know before you encounter the wizarding world. There are some wizards that aren't too…friendly. They believe that witches or wizards who are muggle-born are lesser than other people. Sirius' family is like them. But don't worry—he's completely different. You'll see!" He added hastily. "Don't worry about it now, I was just giving you the heads-up. Today is pure fun! Oh, you'll love it! Zonkos, and oh, Quality Quidditch Supplies! Lily, have I told you about quidditch?" Lily shook her head absently, thinking about other things.

"Mean wizards?" she thought to herself. "That shouldn't be a problem, should it? I deal with Petunia every day, how could they be worse?" But as much as she told herself it was nothing, that she could deal, she couldn't shake James' expression from her thoughts. 

"James, you can explain Kwikit,"

"Quidditch! Quidditch, Lily!" corrected James, outraged.

"Right, whatever. You can tell me about it later, I'm going to get dressed and then we'll go. Meet me here in a few minutes?" 

"Sure. Lily, you have a lot to learn," he informed her, then sat down and started drawing helpful diagrams on a piece of paper to assist him in his explanation of quidditch. 

* * * *

An hour later, James and Lily had just entered Diagon Alley, and Lily knew more about the wizarding sport of quidditch than she ever thought possible. 

"Okay, so we're meeting Sirius at Zonko's. Do you remember what that is?" he quizzed her.

"The joke shop," she replied, thoroughly fed up with James' constant "mini quizzes" as he called them. 

"Excellent!" he replied, completely oblivious to her glare. "Sirius!" he called suddenly. Lily looked up, catching sight of a tall boy with long black hair waving excitedly. James laughed and started to run in his direction shouting over his shoulder, "If I know Sirius, and I do, I would say he's had a bit too much sugar!" He then reached his friend and they hugged (in a completely manly fashion, of course). Lily giggled,

"Boys," she thought, grinning. Then she walked over to them. 

"Lily, this is Sirius, Sirius, Lily," James said. Lily held out her hand but instead Sirius jumped on her giving her an enthusiastic hug. 

"Heyyy Lily Billy! Jamesie here has told me so much about you!"

"He has?" she said, looking over to James who had turned brilliant shade of red. She laughed and took Sirius' arm, "Sirius," she said, "I like you already!" 

"Likewise, m'lady. Shall we skip?" 

"But of course!" She replied. When James finally looked up he saw that his two best friends were nowhere to be found. 

"Hey, wait up!" He called, and ran in the direction of Zonko's, which was always his and Sirius' first stop. 

* * * *

"So what about this one?" Sirius asked, twirling around in what must have been the zillionth dress robe he had tried on in the two hours they had been at Madam Maulkin's. 

"Fine! Can we just go already?" demanded an annoyed Lily, who between the two very vain boys had critiqued more dress robes than she could count. Her infamous anger had already taken over and, had it been just James, they would have left about 1 hour and 59 minutes ago. Sirius, however, was a different story, and seemed immune to her demands. 

"Lily, _that_is not a proper evaluation. Do we have to go through the fine art of observing again? Because I would be glad to…"

"No, Sirius! No! Okay, it's too orange and makes your tan look funny," she conceded. 

"Thank you, Lily, my thoughts exactly. I knew I trained you well!" He returned to the dressing room just as James walked out.

"How about…" he didn't get to finish however because Lily blew up at him.

"James, we've been through this ten million times already! Pink is not your color! You obviously chose this to annoy me! What is your problem? I'm leaving! Meet me at that ice cream store if you two can manage to get your fat heads through the door!" She stalked out in a huff. 

"Perfect, James! We really are good aren't we?" Sirius emerged from his room with a smirk on his face. 

"Of course, we're the best. How dare you question that, mate?" They laughed and went back to try on more dress robes, they did need to impress the ladies after all. 

* * * *

Lily was completely and utterly lost. As much as she tried to avoid it, she really wished she hadn't left James and Sirius. 

"Those prats!" she thought aloud angrily. "It's my first time here and they let me walk out on my own! They should be more considerate! If they weren't so busy admiring themselves in the mirror all day long…" she grumbled. 

"Sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing, do you need help?" a pretty girl who looked Lily's age asked. She held out her hand. "I'm Alice Prewett." Lily hesitated, James' words from earlier running through her head. But she decided that this little girl could never be mean and so she took the chance. 

"Lily Evans," she stated, taking Alice's hand. "I was with these boys, James Potter and Sirius Black, and they just left me! And I've never been here before, so now I'm completely lost! And now I'm supposed to go to some ice cream store, and I'm lost!" She fumed. 

"Yeah, I know James and Sirius. I'm from a long line of wizards so we all know each other," she explained. "But that doesn't sound like James to let a girl go off alone, especially if she doesn't know her way around. I've seen him with his girlfriends and he's always pretty chivalrous, you know pulling out their chairs and stuff…" 

"Girlfriends? Chivalrous? We're obviously talking about different people here!" exclaimed Lily. 

"We can talk about it later…now for ice cream!" 

* * * *

A/N: And that is where I leave you! I thought it was getting a bit too long and I liked that as a stopping point. As always review! It makes me so very happy! Oh, and in your reviews, suggestions on how to make my summary better/names for the story/any constructive critizisms would all be greatly appreciated! Of course, just saying that you love me is wonderful too hehehe ;) 

Just letting you guys know though, during the week I won't update very often, but on weekends I'll try very hard. I'm thinking twice a week, but I really don't know…

REVIEW! 

Suji has left the building J 


	3. Funky Monkey

From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of An Eye

A/N: I was going to wait until I got more reviews to update but I was too impatient…but that doesn't mean I don't want reviews!! What happened to all the ppl from chapter 1?? Anyways, I guess I'm too impatient for my own good but as the song that I'm listening to says, "that's just the way it is…" (kinda creepy how that worked out, doncha think?) 

For my TWO WONDERFUL reviewers: child-of-scorpio—I'm not saying anything… just that people who Lily and James go out with _might _cause problems (damn, that subtlety thing really isn't working for me! lol) and Ms. Lady Padfoot—you put me on your favorite's list!!!! Wow you don't know _how _excited I was when I saw that!! You're the best! This is for you : P as well as lots and lots of super yummo chocolate! Yay! 

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and _not _little Ms. Me. Also, the name Funky Monkey belongs to Mssrs Ben and Jerry (I bet if I had said Jerry and Ben no one would know what I was talking about…hehe sorry, quite a random thought there.) Anndddd the phrase, "swim with moi" is (loosely) borrowed from the crab in the tank at the dentist's office in Finding Nemo (the best movie ever!!) I think that's it…now TO READ!!

Funky Monkey

            "…Chocolate Cream Pie, Glue, Dirt, Vomit, Peas, Onion, Wasabi, Pie in the Face, S'more, Peach on the Beach, Fruity-tooti, I'm Bananas, Parfait…special mystery flavor of the week? That's certainly an interesting list of _ice cream_ _flavors_!" remarked Lily, a little overwhelmed by the various "100,000 flavors, 100 for every taste bud and more!" offered at the store she and Alice had just stepped into. 

            "Yeah, some of them are a bit…wild, to say the least," commented Alice. "I normally stick with the chocolate-based kind. Although if I feel for a real sugar-high I go for the "funky monkey," everyone has a different reaction to it…it's hilarious to see them! Today I'm feeling for some "Pie in the Face," it's practically _made _of whipped cream!" Lily grinned at the expression of pure delight on Alice's face.

            "I'm guessing you like whipped cream…"

            "_Like _it? Whipped cream is absolutely the best substance on the face of this earth!" 

            "I wasn't even aware that wizards had whipped cream," Lily replied.

            "They have something like it, it's lighter and if tampered with, it can actually make someone fly. My brothers tried it once," she explained. "But my mom's a muggle and I grew up in a mostly-muggle neighborhood, so I know all about them. You're a muggle-born?"

            "Yeah, I actually just found out that I was a witch on my birthday—May 25th—and then James told me that he's a wizard…" the two girls sat down, chatting amiably, licking their newly-acquired ice cream, all thoughts of James and Sirius long gone from their minds. 

* * * * 

            Those same boys were now situated right outside of Madam Maulkin's, each laden with 5 huge shopping bags, trying to decide how to get back into Lily's good graces.

            "I'm telling you, James, all girls like flowers! We could get her a nice big bouquet and charm them to…I dunno… sing or something!" 

            "And _I'm _telling _you_, Sirius, that Lily isn't like other girls! She hates flowers! She'll throw them back in our faces and make it look like we were trying to be chauvinistic and egotistical." Seeing the perplexed look on Sirius' face, James amended, "she'll think we're trying to be macho or something." 

            "Ahh…But how could she think that? Of course we're not chaupatisfik, or whatever it was, we're just trying to be nice to her! To charm her!" Sirius protested. 

            "Believe me, man, I've tried. She doesn't even fall for _the _Potter Grin!" James replied. 

            "Oh, God, how could she _not_?" Sirius exclaimed sarcastically, putting his hands on his mouth for dramatic effect. "James, as much as your thick head refuses to believe it, "_the _Potter Grin" does not work on everyone!"

            "Oh yeah?" James challenged. "Name one person."

            "_Me_." Sirius replied simply.

            "Sirius, it's not meant for guys! Gross! I mean, name one girl." Just as Sirius began to open his mouth, James amended, "other than Lily, of course." 

            "Whatever, that's beside the point!"

            "Ha! You can't name anyone! I win, I win, I win I win I win!" James chanted. 

            "James shut up, we all know that you won. Let's all get down on our knees and praise the wonderful James Potter because he won an argument about the effectivity of his grin against his best friend," Sirius replied sarcastically. 

            "For your information, effectivity isn't a word!" James countered. 

            "Is too!" 

            "Is not!"

            "Hey, look, it's Lily taking off her clothes!" 

            "What? Where?" James asked, frantically swiveling his head in all directions. He then turned slowly and glared at his friend, now howling with laughter. "Ha ha, very funny," James said. "Anyway, what are we going to get Lily?" He hoped that Sirius was laughing too hard to see him blush as he said her name. 

            "Who's trying to change the subject _now_, Jamesie?" Sirius taunted. James was about to retort when an idea dawned on him. 

            "Sirius! I know what we can get Lily! Swim with moi!" James did his best interpretation of a fish as he started walking down the street. Sirius laughed and followed him willingly. 

* * * *

            An hour later the two boys were standing in the rain, Sirius with drooping flowers clutched in his hand and James holding a gift-certificate to Honeydukes, no longer recognizable. Both were thoroughly soaked, matted hair and all, and wore identical anxious and frustrated expressions on their faces. 

            "Why didn't you listen to her when she told you where she was going to be?" Sirius demanded for the millionth time. 

            "We've been through this," James replied, barely holding his anger in check. "I wasn't paying attention. _I'm sorry_. What more can I say? I've been searching just as long as you have! I'm just as worried, if not more, as you are!" 

            "Okay, okay," conceded Sirius, sensing his friend's distress. "You know what I think?" He asked, considerably brightening. "We should get ice cream!"

            "Yeah!" James said, also brightening at the thought of a nice dose of chocolate crepe and banana ice cream and Sirius' reaction to "funky monkey," which never got old. 

            So, the two drenched boys plodded into the store, each concentrating only on the thought of some sweet ice cream. 

* * Lily * *

            Lily had finished her ice cream long ago, and was now relaxing in the comfy chairs at the ice cream parlor, waiting for James and Sirius to show up.

            "Where are those boys?" she wondered. "It can't take that long to get robes, can it? I mean, I know James is vain but I didn't realize he was this bad!"

            "Yeah, it has been a long time," agreed Alice. "Especially if you were with them for a couple of hours before you left…how long have we been here?" Lily glanced at her watch and exclaimed, 

            "It's been two hours already! Do you think they got lost or hurt or something?" Alice grinned and pointed behind Lily, 

            "Nah, they look like they were having a splendid time," she joked. 

            "James! Sirius! Where have you been?" Lily jumped up, seeing them entering the ice cream parlor. They turned.

            "Lily!" They ran over, James came to hug her but Lily stepped back and James retreated, hurt. 

            "You're _wet_," she stated. They looked down at their clothes and then at each other. James nodded, Sirius smirked, and they attacked her from both sides. Lily shrieked. 

            "Alice! Help!" Alice laughed and replied, 

            "No way am I getting near those boys!" They broke away and attacked Alice, soon the four were running around the ice cream parlor laughing and tripping. They were all wet but they didn't care. All of a sudden, as he was passing the row of ice cream tubs, Sirius stopped. 

            "Funky Monkey!" he shouted. A scoop was lifted out of the tub, "crazy cone," he informed it. The scoop was placed into an intricately twisted cone with sprinkles, chocolate icing, whipped cream, and dippin' dots on top and he placed a galleon in the machine in front of the tub. It opened and he took the ice cream. 

            "Yum_mo_!" he exclaimed. 

* * * *

            "Like, ohmygod, what happened to my like beautiful like gorgeous like sun-kissed hair?" The ice cream had had its desired effect on Sirius, he was now completely and irreversibly, for a few hours at least, a valley-girl. With it came the ability to speak at incredibly high wpm (words per minute) rate, something Sirius as himself already possessed—making Sirius-as-a-valley-girl practically impossible to understand. The other three had long given up trying to decode the new Sirius language, and were talking amongst themselves, ignoring him completely. 

            "It's really incredible how Sirius can hold a conversation with himself for so long," remarked Lily. 

            "Oh, that's nothing. He can do it for hours after going through our Halloween candy," James replied casually. The two girls raised their eyebrows. 

            "You gave him _two _shares of Halloween candy?" Alice asked skeptically. 

            "Well…he threatened me!" said James, holding up his hands in innocence. The girls grinned and turned back to watching Sirius. 

            "I really don't want to know what that situation was like… Hey, who's that kid over there?" Lily asked, catching sight of a boy who looked to be about their age sitting at a table far in the corner of the store. He had brown hair and grey eyes and looked tired—beyond tired, exhausted. "I wonder why he looks so tired…" she mused. James and Alice turned to look. 

            "He looks about our age…why don't we go talk to him?" James suggested. The two girls shrugged and stood up. 

            "Like totally, for sure, I just got a manicure! The sun, I swear, is bleaching out my gorgeous hair! My skirt, too small…" Sirius was singing, as they stood up he stopped. "Like, hey, wait up! Where are you like headed?" 

            "Sirius can't come with us," Lily whispered out of the side of her mouth to James. "I'll stay with him." She then turned to Sirius, "nowhere! Don't worry about it! Now, what were you saying about your skirt?"

            "Like oh my God, _too small_! I gotta go to the mall! 32, 44, I don't even know the score…" he continued. Lily rolled her eyes and winked at Alice and James. They walked away, barely containing their giggles. 

* * * *

            Remus looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat. He shook his head to make sure he wasn't sleeping, there were two kids standing in front of him and they looked his age. 

            "Hi!" said the boy, a little too cheerfully. He looked very confident and Remus was a little intimidated, confidence wasn't something that came to him naturally, not anymore at least. The boy continued, "I'm James Potter and this here is Alice Prewett, nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand. Remus looked at it unsure of whether or not this was just some cruel joke, like the kids at school used to play. He then decided that there was no way these kids could know of his condition, so he shook it tentatively. 

            "Remus Lupin," he said. "Delighted." 

            "So, we were wondering how come you're sitting here all alone…" prompted the girl, Alice. Remus was taken aback. They _were _taunting him! But they looked so kind. He looked up at her,

            "She has such a soft voice, surely she's not trying to be mean…" Remus told himself. Finally, he overcame his insecurity and said, 

            "Well, I don't have many friends, if that's what you mean…" 

            "Well _we_ can be your friends!" offered James heartily, grinning widely. Remus pondered this for a moment and was about to reply in the negative when, 

            "Like, I _asked _you where you were like going! Oh my God, I can't believe you met a new friend without me! Like, hi, my name's Sirius. But I'm rarely _serious_," Sirius started laughing uproariously, slapping his thigh for good measure. By that time he had some how gotten a hold of a bright pink feathered scarf, who knows how—it's Sirius for God's sake!—and had it wrapped numerous times around his neck. He also had tied his hair up into a few little ponytails and was talking in a very high-pitched voice. This left Remus unsure of whether the entity was a boy or a girl or both. 

            "Oh God, I'm so sorry!" apologized Lily on behalf of Sirius. "He must be scaring you. Sorry, he had some of that Funky Monkey stuff and now he's just jumping off the walls!" she explained to Remus, looking a bit frazzled. 

            "Jumping? Like oh my God, I know how to jump! It's like part of cheerleading! Duh!" He then commenced what was supposed to be some complicated cheerleading sequence but ended up being Sirius jumping up and down making a fool of himself, much like usual. James, Alice, Lily, and even Remus couldn't hold it in anymore, they cracked up at Sirius' antics. They didn't stop for a few minutes, when all of them had tears rolling down their cheeks. When James had recovered enough to speak, Sirius had gone to take a "water break! Like, with the footballers," he repeated his previous question. 

            "So, what do you say, we'll be your friends." Remus was still chuckling a little and said easily, 

            "Sure, that'd be great!" The four sat down to talk, Sirius interrupting every once in a while with some new trick, and soon realized that they would be going to the same school, namely Hogwarts. It was midnight when they finally left. Lily and Sirius were sleeping at James' house, and his parents were gone for a couple of days so they had the house pretty much to themselves. By the time Sirius' valley-girl qualities had fully gone, he had completely worn himself out and fell asleep, exhausted. 

            "Wow, James, that was one of the most fun days I've had in…well forever," Lily remarked, yawning. 

            "Yeah, it really was fun."

            "James?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Thanks so much for showing all of this to me, I really appreciate it."

            "Any time, Lily, any time."

            "Night, James," said Lily

            "Night," James replied and fell asleep with a huge grin on his face. 

* * * *

A/N: Aww!! They're so cute! Hehe, I love fluff! Anyways, I hope this chapter was long enough… I certainly thought it was! I enjoyed it too, Sirius…hehehe

You know what to do!! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! (wow I'm a poet and didn't know it! lol) 

This time I'm really not updating till I get some reviews! PLEASE!! It takes like a second just say hi, bye, and I'll be set! Thanks so much, you're the greatest! 


	4. And They're Off!

From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Okay, before you kill me…

I know I know! This is horribly and inexcusably late!! Eekers (haha I love that…it's just so strange lol) I'm sorry. I just took a history AP today and I have a Latin one next Friday and a _huge _Spanish project due Tuesday, not to mention it was the OC season finale on Weds. (how good was that??? I love Seth! I started crying (laugh all you want) when he said that Newport wouldn't be the same w/o Ryan, oh it was so good) and also the FRIENDS FINALE on Thurs (ahhhhh!!! Soooo very good, I can't even describe it! I'm not as obsessed as some of my friends are but it was still amazing and touching…yes I cried during that as well)

…still inexcusable, I know.

But to make up for it all (and that horribly long author's note, I tend to ramble…all the time lol) this is going to be a _double update_! (I don't know if there's any such thing but it means, in my world, that I'm posting two chapters in one night! I know, _crazy _hehehe

REVIEWERS! (who were absolutely astoundingly wonderful this time (as always) but I got…SEVEN for this chapter!! That's a record!) 

**childofScorpio**: Thanks so much! You're amazing…it seems like _every _L/J story I read, you've reviewed every chapter! I'm astounded by your great reviewing skills (hehe) Cheers for the funky monkey!! Funky monkey funky monkey ;) 

**BlueRubies: **Like, glad you, like, liked it! (haha imagine someone actually saying that! Like, liked it…hehe) 

**Miss Lady Padfoot**: Hey again! I'm sorry Sirius scared you! I thought he was quite amusing… hehe

**Stardrops: **Thanks so much! Yeah I like the ice cream too…I was inspired by Bertie Botts. I figured, if they have such cool beans, why not ice cream? And the parfait came from that hilarious line in _Shrek, _when donkey goes, "Have you every met somebody and said, hey, let's get some parfait, and they're like, hell no! I don't like parfait!" hahaha I can watch that sooo many times lol

**Shadowed.pheonix: **Thanks so much for reviewing! Glad you liked it ;) I love yours! 

**EyesofEmerald**: You reviewed every chapter! That's soooo cool! _Definitely not _a bad thing!! I love reviews! Keep 'em coming!

**QuaintEssence: **Thank you, thank you very much! I like your name btw ;)

Okay, I've been thinking…From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of an Eye is wayyy too long, so what do you say if I change it to just In the Blink of an Eye? Because they are going to go back to friends (I didn't say that!) (Not that it matters anyway b/c we all know they get married and have our favorite little Harry) again…so technically it's not such a good title. Tell me what you think! Oh right, and I changed the rating because I think some of these jokes might not be G-rated, when I think of G I think of what I could tell my 5-year-old cousin…and I wouldn't say this to her. Not to worry, it's not very sophisticated or anything. I use the word, "shag…" that's pretty much it. Just giving you the heads-up! 

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, _not _little Ms. Me. 

And They're Off!

            "James? _James!_" Lily exclaimed indignantly. "Where does that boy keep disappearing to?" she asked herself looking around her timidly. James had been in front of her a minute ago, right before they had gone through the barrier. Lily was scared enough as it was, Diagon Alley was one thing, but walking through walls? That was on a different spectrum altogether! She had finally worked up the courage to walk through and was astounded at the sight. However, once her wits were about her again, she was startled to find that her guide had disappeared. And it wasn't the first time in their trip to the station. 

            "James Thomas Potter!" she shrieked, upon catching sight of him boarding the train. He heard her…as well as everyone else on the platform. An eerie silence settled over the bustling platform and everyone stopped and looked at Lily, expectantly. "Well, I found him…you can all go back to what you were doing!" she stated, terribly embarrassed. 

            She then stalked up to James who was trying desperately not to laugh. "See? Now look what you've made me do! For the rest of my life I'm going to be known as that red-haired girl who shrieked on her first day of school! Thanks a lot you great prat!" she turned around in a huff. She had scarcely gone two steps when she turned back around again. "Well, aren't you going to get my trunk?" she asked him, giving him her infamous death glare which he couldn't stand. He jumped up and hurried over to her trunk, not daring to say a word. It was then that they caught sight of Sirius, rolling around on the floor with laughter. 

            "You…you…your face!" he panted, in between fits of laughter. "And…Lily…you…jumped…Lily…yell….everyone…" he couldn't make it any further, he just started laughing again. James glared at him and made sure to kick some dirt in his face while walking by. "Aw, yuck, James! You got that in my hair!" He stood up quickly and ran into the bathroom on the train to fix his hair before any ladies could see it. Lily rolled her eyes and turned to James, beckoning him to follow her. 

            They walked into the train and had been looking for a suitable compartment for at least 15 minutes already. Sirius had returned to the group, freshly groomed, and they had met up with Remus and Alice. James' arms were beyond tired from carrying two trunks and Lily was nearly at her wits end after having spent those 15 minutes with three hyper-active 11-year-old boys. 

            "This better be empty otherwise I'm going to kill someone!" James exclaimed as Lily swung open a door. 

            "Finally!" Lily exclaimed and plopped down on the nearest seat. "I'm so tired of walking!" James glared at her and made sure to step on her foot on the way in. She just laughed, "It was your fault," she reminded him, smiling obnoxiously. He stuck out his tongue and proceeded to put the trunks away. 

            When they had finally settled in the door swung open again. 

            "Hola! Bonjour! Namaste! Konichiwa! Wow, I'm so damn good!" exclaimed the girl who was now standing with her arms wide open in a star pose and a wide smile on her face. "Niiice ta meetcha!" she said, putting on a fake accent. "I am Sharmila, yaar!" she continued, now with a thick Indian accent. "I am from India, only!" She winked and then added in her normal English accent, "That is, if you couldn't tell." The other kids sat there, overwhelmed and stunned by this crazy girl who had just barged in on them. That is, most were overwhelmed but Sirius jumped right up to greet her. 

            "And moi, I am ze Zirius Bleeack!" he exclaimed with a French accent, bowing down with a graceful swoop of his hand to kiss her hand. 

            "Why, Sirius! You're just so charming!" she panted in a high breathy voice. "Shag me, baby!" she then added in a deep voice. 

            "Gladly, doll!" The two then burst out laughing. This snapped the others out of their trance and they joined the two crazies. Alice and James then jumped up and gave the girl a hug. 

            "Sharmila! I haven't seen you in _ages!_" Alice shrieked happily. James then added, 

            "Yeah, we haven't seen you since that Christmas party…who knows how long ago!" 

            "You'll never believe where I've been! Guess?" Without letting them do so, she continued, "India! My grandparents let me stay with them! Since I wasn't sure where I would be for wizarding school, I figured this was probably the only chance I'd get to really get to know them. So, anyway, I have all sorts of stuff to tell you guys! Ahh, I'm so excited to be going to school with all of you!" she exclaimed again, hugging them all. She then stuck her hand out to Lily, "I'm Sharmila, as you probably figured out. Both my parents are wizards so I've known this lot for ages," she explained, gesturing to Alice, James, and Sirius. 

            "Hi, I'm Lily," she said by way of introduction. "I'm muggle-born, but I've known James for a while now. I met Sirius, Alice, and Remus a couple of weeks ago and I've had to deal with them every since!" she said, laughing. Sharmila then turned to Remus, 

            "I recognize you…" she said.

            "Yeah, I met you when we were really little at one of your parent's parties…" 

            "Oh," Sharmila said shortly, her face falling. "You had to witness that, sorry." 

            "Don't be sorry," interrupted Sirius. She gave him a half-grin and he hugged her again. 

            "Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed, jumping out of Sirius' arms. "I met someone else on the platform…now, where did he go?" She wandered out of the compartment and shouted, "Kevin!" She soon came back in, "I dunno. I guess we'll catch up with him when we get there…" 

            The children began talking and getting to know each other, forming friendships that would last forever. 

A/N: But wait, there's more! Remember? It's a _double update_!

But that does NOT by any circumstances mean that this chapter shouldn't get reviews! It would feel neglected…and that's just mean (I'm also a writer who's very greedy for reviews! Heh heh heh). Soooo REVIEW!


	5. The Beginning

From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Parte numero dos…have fun!

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, _not _little Ms. Me.

The Beginning 

They tumbled into the great hall, all of them giddy with excitement and nerves. Lily had James on one side and Sirius on the other, both telling her conflicting messages as to how the sorting works.

"Lily, listen to me," James began seriously. "It's based on your knowledge. Why do you think we're coming to this school? To learn witchcraft and wizardry! Isn't that what the letter said?" Lily nodded, listening intently.

"Now all they'll want you to do is perform a few charms, maybe transfigure yourself into a table or something, and they might ask you to fly a little, after conjuring some wings of course," he added with a grin. "But you shouldn't have to do that, that's only for the kids who really don't know what they're doing…they make complete fools of themselves," James finished hastily. Lily looked a bit sick.

"No, no, no, don't listen to him!" Sirius exclaimed, turning the girl to look at him. "He's just trying to scare you!" Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

"I bet he hasn't even read the guide, _Hogwarts: a History_. He's so irresponsible! Everyone knows you have to read that before setting foot in this school!" Sirius continued, apparently laughing at James' stupidity. "You've read it right?" he asked Lily in a serious tone. Her eyes widened and she shook her head slowly, unable to speak. "Oh…" he said uncertainly. "Well, it's a good thing you have me here to show you then isn't it?" he assured her brightly.

"Now, there are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Since Gryffindor are the brave ones, you'll probably have to fight off a raging hippogriff, nothing special. Ravenclaw is the smart one, _that's _where you'll do the transfiguring and charms. Then you go to Hufflepuff where they give you a test of your heart, kind of like that muggle thing, what's it called? Confession! That's it! Finally, you go to Slytherin and they test your sharpness with an impossible riddle. Whichever task you do the best on, that's the house you'll be in! Isn't that great?" he exclaimed. Lily had reached way beyond "a bit sick", she was now distinctly green.

As they walked into the hall the group of first years let out admiring gasps while looking up at the ceiling. Lily's eyes were darting around uncertainly, searching for traces of hippogriffs or something she could use as a set of wings. Professor McGonagall then said in her stern voice,

"The sorting shall now begin. Abbott, Linda," she called. A small girl walked up to the front where a worn hat was sitting. Lily stared at it and shook her head slightly to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Linda put the hat on her head and it soon called out,

"Hufflepuff!" Lily then turned to James and Sirius, who were howling at laughter at the expression on their friend's face. She was about to yell and then realized that if she did, she would most definitely be known only for her yelling in this school. She set her lips in a thin line and turned towards the front.

"Bellatrix Black!" called McGonagall. Sirius whipped around quickly, his laughter gone as quick as it had come. James too had stopped laughing. He whispered to Lily,

"That would be Sirius' cousin, a.k.a. the female reincarnation of the devil." Lily looked like she was about to reprimand him but he continued quickly, "All of Sirius' family members have been in _Slytherin_," he spat out the name with venom. "But he's not like them…pray for him Lily," he beseeched. Even though she was mad at the two boys she couldn't deny James with the look of utter desperation on his face. She closed her eyes and did so.

"Black, Sirius!" She heard, and then,

"Gryffindor!" James whooped loudly and enveloped Lily in a bone-crushing hug. She grinned widely. They saw Sirius sit down next to a fellow first year ("Berner, Leigh"), who happened to be a pretty girl, at the Gryffindor table and begin speaking to her. They all laughed at his antics.

"Chang, Kevin!" they heard. Lily then caught sight of a rather handsome Chinese boy walking up to the hat. She turned to look more closely at him.

"Hey! That's the boy I met on the train!" Sharmila exclaimed. "Isn't he gorgeous?" Lily and Alice both blushed furiously, giggling.

"Ravenclaw!" called the hat.

"I guess a little…" said Lily. James rolled his eyes,

"You _girls _are so…girly!" he exclaimed, which just made them giggle even more. His attention was drawn away when he heard,

"Diggory, Amos!"

"Oh I hate that boy!" he said furiously. "He is so egotistical and arrogant and stuck-up…"

"Hey! Sounds like someone I know rather well!" teased Lily, poking James in the side. As he glowered, she added, "He's kinda cute too!"

"This is going to be a long year," muttered James.

"Evans, Lily!"

"Here goes…" she thought. She couldn't help blushing as she walked up to the hat. Soon enough the crowd heard,

"Gryffindor!" and she skipped away to join Sirius and the pretty girl, who he now had wrapped around his little finger. A little while later, Remus broke off from the line of first years when he heard his name. His friends waited and cheered when they heard the hat call out,

"Gryffindor!" James and Sharmila turned back to their conversation and soon started sharing prank ideas, as they had long since gotten bored of the sorting—one could really only watch it for so long. Alice however was still watching out of both politeness and curiosity to see wizards and witches with whom she would be working for the next 7 years.

"Lovegood, Lucas!"

"He looks a bit nutty…" commented Alice to a girl beside her.

"Really! What a weirdo…" the girl agreed.

"Ravenclaw!"

"McKinnon, Marlene!" The girl turned to Alice and waved,

"That's me!"

"Gryffindor!" Alice cheered heartily.

"Meadowes, Dorcas!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Patil, Nikhil!"

"Wow, look at him, 'Mila!" exclaimed Alice happily. Sharmila looked up and grinned,

"Hey! Indian and hot! Score!" she replied, laughing. James rolled his eyes.

"Ravenclaw!"

"And he's smart too!" Sharmila added. They all laughed.

"Pettigrew, Peter!" A small and chubby blond haired boy looked up, startled out of his thoughts. He rushed up to the stool as quickly as he could, which wasn't very quickly. It was too fast for him, though. He couldn't stop himself and knocked over the stool. Chaos erupted as the students who were watching laughed and those who had zoned out were trying to figure out what happened.

"Oh no, poor boy!" Alice mourned. "I would hate to be him!" McGonagall stalked over to him and calmly placed the hat on his head then picked up the boy and placed him on the stool. He looked like he was about to wet his pants from sheer embarrassment. James, on the other hand, looked like he was about to wet his pants from laughing so hard. He could hardly even stand. The commotion grew even louder, however, when that same nervous and scrawny looking boy was placed into:

"Gryffindor!" everyone and their neighbor started chattering excitedly, ready to see one of the teachers challenge the hat. However, the sorting went on as McGonagall called,

"Potter, James!" He walked up with confidence to the stool and winked at a few of the Hufflepuff first-years on his way up. They nearly fainted with pleasure. He had scarcely even sat down when the hat called,

"Gryffindor!" Everyone stopped talking about the "nervous-boy incident," as they heard the prestigious name "Potter" called and three of the four houses cheered for him as he sat down.

"Prewett, Alice!" She waved to Sharmila and, much to her delight, was placed into,

"Gryffindor!" Finally,

"Shah, Sharmila!" was called. She walked up happily, gave a bow and a kiss to her friends and was soon placed into,

"Gryffindor!"

"Can you believe it?" asked Lily. "We're all in the same house!"

"I didn't notice that!" replied James in a falsetto voice. She gave him a friendly shove and they watched "Skeeter, Rita!" "Snape, Severus!" and "Woo, Victoria!" be sorted into "Ravenclaw!" "Slytherin!" and "Hufflepuff!" respectively, while anxiously awaiting their food.

That night all the first years fell into bed blissfully exhausted by the events of the day with huge grins on each of their faces.

A/N: So what'd you think? I guess it was kinda boring 'cause nothing much happened, but I needed to introduce lots of characters! Now, I kinda want to skip all of first year until spring break b/c that's when all the fun starts. Would it be horrible to skip to then? I could always do one or two chappies on like the first day of classes and maybe a prank or something and then we could head to their crazy spring break fun…Tell me what you think!! (in your **_REVIEW_** of course hehehe)

Please do review! I'll try and get the next chapter up by Wednesday, but I don't know if it'll happen…I won't be able to do anything until I know what you think I should write though…(hint hint: REVIEW!) Thanks and 'til next time!

Oh right—look for the story under _The Blink of an Eye_…I'm going to change the name. Ta ta for now!


	6. A Lily Hint

In the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Hello hello! Nice to see you back again even though I take so long to update…what can I say? Latin AP. Sorry guys…

I love all of you for reviewing! It makes me so very happy! (so if you want to make me happy…hint hint…)

Quick note: Rita Skeeter has officially been moved to Ravenclaw…I have no idea why she got put into Hufflepuff in the first place… (I wasn't thinking straight)

**Doesn't matter wat my name is(): **One review is better than none! I don't care if you haven't reviewed all of them, I just feel proud that I got the "laziest person in the world" to review! Yay! Glad you like it ;) Thanks for the review and maybe I can get one more…?

**Miss Lady Padfoot**: You are the awesomeist! (hehehe) Glad you liked Sharmila, she's happy that she's so popular! About the Rita Skeeter thing, I'm so sorry about that! I didn't mean to put her in Hufflepuff at all, I must have not been thinking! Rita Skeeter—a _Hufflepuff_??? That's insane! Lol Thanks for pointing that out to me ;) 

**Child-of-Scorpio**: I love your reviews! I think it's amazing that you're able to do so many! And long reviews are the BEST kind! I really enjoy reading them :) Glad you liked the chappie, I try, I try lol

**Shahrukh Khan Rules: **Tell me about it! (lol I feel like such a ditz when I say that…ah well…) I LOVE SHAHRUKH!!! He's obviously the best actor to ever grace the screen! Lol I haven't seen Mein Hoo Naa yet…but I'm dying to go! My friends told me it wasn't one of his best…but everything he does is worth seeing! Have you seen Kal Ho Naa Ho?? Because that is by far the best Hindi movie I've seen in a while…also if you want some good ones (although it seems that you're pretty up-to-date with his movies…) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is always a favorite, Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham, Devdas…umm no more right now but I'll think about it! (Oh, yes, I am Indian if you couldn't tell. I'm Sindhi)

**shadowed.phoenix: **I'm so happy that poor chapter four wasn't neglected, yay! Yeah, sorry about that name mix-up…Sharmila was originally named Anjali but then I changed it, I guess I missed those sentences. Thanks so much for pointing it out! They're fixed now…Glad you liked the bit about the sorting (hehe--I liked it too…) Yeah, about them all being in Gryffindor: The thing is, I was mapping out the kids in all the houses and I just wanted to make sure I had all the Gryffindors down so that I knew who their dorm-mates would be…there were a few from the other houses and there will definitely be more, I just didn't want to stick everyone in that one chappie because otherwise it would be horribly tedious…I completely agree that they should have friends in many houses though! Thanks for the reviews!!

**Eyes of Emerald**: Thanks so much for reviewing (both chapters!!)! (crazy exclamation points there lol) Also, thanks for your input on Spring Break, due to popular demand I am skipping! Just a bit confused though, you signed your second review "quaintessence" just wondering how that happened (especially considering that quaintessence reviewed the two chapters also…)

**QuaintEssence: **Thank you for your reviews! Glad for the input…and for chapter four not getting neglected! Also, cheers for review greed! I believe it's an affliction we all have to deal with…(not that that's a bad thing lol)

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, _not _little Ms. Me.

Okay, now that that's done with, the chapter! cheers heard from approving fans ;) sounds good to me! (Ignore me, I'm certifiably insane lol)

A Lily Hint

            "Lily! Lily, wake up, we really have to go! You're going to miss Transfiguration!" Alice exclaimed nervously, shaking her best friend.

            "Like I give a…" came the muffled reply, cut off by Alice's gasp,

            "Lily!" she interrupted, appalled at the profanity that she was about to hear her friend utter.

            "She does it _every _morning, yet you are offended _every _time! She doesn't have any control in the morning and that's that. Forget it, it's not like she's going to remember later on anyway. I do think I have a way to get her up…" Sharmila grinned mischievously.

            "Normally I'd never allow you to do _anything _while wearing that horrible grin, but since it's Lily-in-the-morning that we're dealing with, go right ahead with your, no doubt very evil, plan," replied Alice.

            "Oh Liillllyyy," called Sharmila. "_James_ is outside right now lifting weights with just his _boxers_ on…" Sharmila whispered into the sleeping girl's ear.

            "What? Who? When? Where?" Lily exclaimed, bolting upright in bed. Alice and Sharmila burst out laughing and rolling around on the floor. Lily's cheeks burned as she realized what she had just gotten herself into. Then she turned to glare at her hysterical friends. "You think that's funny, do you? Well, I think I'll sit with the Ravenclaws today…maybe drop a hint or two." She walked off with a defiant expression and closed the door forcibly. Sharmila stopped laughing abruptly.

            "No, Lily! C'mon, it was just a joke! Besides, only the three of us are here! No one heard anything! The entire tower has left for breakfast by now! Lily, please don't tell him, I'll do anything!" Sharmila begged, pounding on the bathroom door. Lily, not being completely heartless, opened it a crack with a softer expression gracing her features,

            "'Mila, you know I'd never tell him if you don't want me to. I just like seeing you beg," she grinned. Then added hastily, her previous glare firmly back in place "but that does _not _mean that I'm speaking to you two!"

            Sharmila breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to the once again closed door, "Thank you, Lily! You're the bestest!" Then she turned to Alice and they headed down to breakfast, knowing better than to try to reason with their red-haired friend when she was in a mood like this. Inside the bathroom Lily smiled to herself for a reason unknown to anyone but her, oh but her friends did know her well, she mused.

            When the two first-year Gryffindor girls arrived at the great hall, the boys were sitting huddled in a circle with their new friend Peter.

            "That Pettigrew kid is with them again! And judging by their position, they're not welcoming visitors. I'd say we're unwanted," Sharmila sniffed, pretending to dab at her eyes dramatically.

            "Well, we could always go eat with Dorcas, Victoria, and Linda," offered Alice, naming three Hufflepuff girls in their year who they were friends with.

            "Nah, I don't feel like listening to their gossip this morning. Not that I don't like them,' Sharmila added hastily. Just then she caught sight of a third-year Gryffindor boy waving them over with a huge smile on his face.

            "Hey, look! Let's go sit with Frank!" she exclaimed. Frank Longbottom was also from a long line of wizards and his family was good friends with the Shahs, the Prewetts, and the Potters. Sitting next to him were Alice's older brothers, the twins Gideon and Fabian. Sharmila walked over to them happily with Alice close behind.

            The kids chatted for a while, Sharmila, Gideon, and Fabian were soon engrossed in a discussion about professional Quidditch and Alice and Frank were talking about their plans for easter break, which was just around the corner, as neither of them were too interested in Quidditch. In the middle of their conversations, both girls caught sight of Lily, who, sure enough, strode purposefully over to the Ravenclaw table. Sharmila turned to Alice in alarm and whispered,

            "She's sitting next to him!"

            "Don't worry, she won't go back on her word, you know Lily," reassured Alice. Sharmila was a little mollified and rejoined the debate about the Applebee Arrows and the Wimbourne Wasps but she kept glancing over nervously to the Ravenclaw table.

            Lily, on the other hand, ,was thoroughly enjoying watching her friend squirm. She hadn't chosen her seat next to Nikhil Patil, the current object of Sharmila's affection, for nothing. It was simply an added bonus that the boy and his friends Kevin Chang and Lucas Lovegood happened to be good friends of hers. They too were in the middle of an argument over the Wasps and the Arrows. As she sat down they stopped long enough to greet her properly before resuming the debate. Lily, although she knew a thing or two about Quidditch, wasn't half as obsessed as those two boys, so she looked to Lucas, who was only too glad for the change in topic.

            "Hey, Luke," Lily greeted, "bored?"

            "Just a little…you know, I used to think _I _was obsessed with Quidditch, being the only wizard in a muggle neighborhood, but these boys give _fanatic _a new meaning! I mean, they just don't stop! They make me seem like I'm hardly even interested in my favorite sport because of their level of obsession!" Lily giggled.

            "I know what you mean. I feel the same way around James, Sirius, and Sharmila. So, what's new, _other _than Quidditch?" she asked, grinning.

            "Well, I was just going over some Divination, to get a head start you know…"

            "Divination? We don't start that until 3rd year!"

            "I know, but I find it so fascinating! I want to be able to read at least a little on my first day! I'm so excited!" he exclaimed happily. Lily grinned, thinking that if her friend was so excited about the class, it really couldn't be that bad. They continued chatting until it was time for class. Lily walked to Transfiguration with the Ravenclaw boys. She avoided any contact what-so-ever with her two best friends and tried also to stay away from James, as the scene from that morning still made her blush. She was worrying a little as to how she would get through the class, which was by far her worst subject, without James there to help her as she took a seat next to Lucas.

            James noticed Lily walk in the room and tried his hardest to get her attention.

            "Lily," he whispered urgently, trying to catch her before she sat down. She turned her head the other way, almost as if she was trying to ignore him. James was confused and quickly racked his brains for something that he had said or done recently to set his easily-angered friend off. He couldn't for the life of him, however, think of anything. Professor McGonagall soon entered and began the lesson, but James' mind was only on the beautiful girl sitting a few seats in front of him next to _Lucas Lovegood_.

            Throughout the class, James tried writing notes and hitting Lily with spit balls to get her attention, but she would just turn and glare at him with a look that clearly stated that she wanted to be left alone. He sighed in frustration after doing this for what seemed like forever for the impatient boy (but was actually only a few minutes).

            "If I know anything, mate, and I think I do," Sirius began and shook his hair back from his eyes, "I would say she doesn't want to talk to you."

            "Thank you oh-great-Sirius, now how did you figure _that _one out?" James asked sarcastically.

            "Must be my ingenious brain that did it," he winked at James and added, "But seriously, Jamie, what'd you do _this _time?"

             "That's just the thing!" James huffed. "I _didn't _do anything…not that I remember anyway. And don't call me Jamie!" he added as an afterthought, glaring at his best friend.

            "Now, now, Lily wouldn't be mad at you for no reason! I mean, yeah her reasons sometimes are _pointless,_ and _stupid_, and occasionally absolutely _ridiculous_, but I've never seen her get mad over a completely _non-existent_ reason!" Sirius reasoned and as much as James hated to admit it, he was right. Therefore, James was left with nothing to say and retorted simply with,

            "Yeah? Well, whose side are you on _anyway_?" Sirius grinned and shrugged,

            "Just letting you know, Jim." James sighed, both at the annoying nick-name and the fact that Sirius had a point. After much inward debate, James decided that he would take Lily on a walk around the lake that night and apologize, regardless of whether he knew the reason for her anger.

            It was dinnertime and Lily was still sitting with the Ravenclaws. However, the group of four had been joined by a rather annoying girl named Rita Skeeter, who was currently hanging on to the boys' every word. Lily rolled her eyes as Rita gushed,

            "_You _can do a _Wronski Feint?_" Nikhil shrugged it off uncomfortably, replying,

            "Well, I'm really not that good and it's not very effective when I try it…" She looked around desperately for a way out of the tedious conversation and wished fleetingly that she could go back to the Gryffindor table and sit with her friends. She was too stubborn, however, and would never come back first, especially after what they had done to her. She was about to go to the library to see if she could get started on some of her homework (which meant get started on the new romance novel that her muggle friend had just owled her), when she caught sight of James walking towards her, running his hand through his hair nervously. She was glad to see him rescue her until she remembered what she had done that morning. She blushed and turned back to Rita and the boys, pretending to be engrossed in their conversation. But, to no avail, as she soon felt a tap on her shoulder.

            "Lil, can I talk to you?" She panicked and then decided on her response,

            "Sure, talk away!" He gave her a look and replied,

            "_Lily, _you know what I mean!" She sighed and got up, seeing as her, albeit very feeble, attempt to avoid confrontation was obviously not going to work on the black-haired boy that day. They walked out of the dining hall very uncomfortably and once they were out of the school doors, James rounded on Lily.

            "I'm sorry," he said bluntly. She blinked, of all things an _apology _was the last thing she expected.

            "Sorry…for what?"

            "Ummm…" he stuttered, "is that a trick question?" Regardless of how embarrassed she felt at the moment, Lily couldn't help but laugh at James' confused (and very cute) expression.

            "No James! I should be apologizing! I've been ignoring you for no reason today. Well, actually there was a reason, but it had nothing to do with you…"

            "Damn that Sirius!" he muttered under his breath. "Wait, what was that about a reason?" he asked Lily.

            "Nothing you have to worry about!" she said hastily, her previous embarrassment coming back. James shook his head,

            "Girls…" They walked companionably in silence for a while, Lily trying not to think about how hot James would really look lifting weights with just his boxers on, until James spoke up again. "Okay, so there was another reason I wanted to talk to you today, before this whole…ordeal," he began as they reached the lake and sat down on the grass. Lily turned to him expectantly.

            "So, you know how we have Easter Break next week? Well, my older cousin Charlie, who lives with my family, is throwing a surprise 21st birthday party for his best friend, Arthur Weasley and guess what?" he asked, his hazel eyes (sigh) now sparkling with excitement and anticipation.

            "What?"

            "He told me I could invite some of my friends! How groovy is that?"

            "Really?" exclaimed Lily, jumping up with joy. "We're going to a party for a _twenty-one-year-old_?"

            "Yeah! I mean, they'll make us leave early and we won't be able to drink or anything but it'll still be fun!" Lily was smiling widely,

            "James, that'll be so much fun! So, who're you going to invite?"

            "Well, you, obviously, Sirius, Remus, Alice, Sharmila…I was thinking of inviting Peter…" Lily made a face but didn't say anything, knowing that James was only inviting the boy out of the kindness of his heart. She simply smiled and nodded,

            "How many kids are you allowed to invite?"

            "Well, I'm not really sure. The thing is, I don't know how many we can fit in our house because of all the other guests that'll be staying there. I mean, it's a huge party and there are limits placed by the Ministry as to how much you can expand your house, especially in a muggle neighborhood…"

            "James, don't worry, I'll gladly house the girls."

            "Would you? That would be great!" he exclaimed. "Oh this is going to be the best!"

A/N: So next chapter: the crazy party!! I realize that they're only 11, but James' parents spoil him _a lot _(which will come up later) and they'll have to leave by around 9 probably… What'd you think? REVIEW and tell me! The next chappie will be up soon b/c I'm really excited about it ;) Oh, do tell me: does anyone know any other expressions from the 70's? There're only so many times I can write "groovy" lol

Don't forget to review!! Thank you so very much, you're the bestest J


	7. Meeting Kate Potter

In the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Hello hello! Wow, I have a whole uber (haha I love that word!) long list of reasons why this chapter wasn't up early, but I think that it would suffice to say that I am a _horrible _updater! Mucho thanks to EyesofEmerald who persuaded me to write!

I know you all were expecting the party in this chapter but it was getting too long. The next one will be out about two seconds after this one, I just wanted to split them up a little…

A little note: I don't know if British people have spring break, so I'm just giving them a long weekend for Easter. Sorry if I'm wrong…I'm merely an American! ALSO: James in his boxers is SUPER HOT!!! Hehehe, we'll all just pretend he's, say, 5 years older when he's doing that so it won't be petefile-ish lol…I was pretending he was while I wrote it ;)

Awesome reviews btw! Keep it up!

**WotcherHarry****:** You are incredible!! So here I am, being a lazy ass writer and thinking that my reviews for the chapter are over and done with and then…you review FIVE TIMES!!! Wow that really really really made my day! I was so uber (hehe) happy you don't even know...Now, I can't exactly answer all of your reviews here (they were so numerous and long (AMAZING I tell you, _amazing_)), so I do think I will take you up on the offer of emailing you!

**BlueRubies**: Two reviews! That was awesome! Thanks so much J You know Kal Ho Naa Ho??? That's soooo cool! I love sharukh khan and that movie was _amazing_!!! I cried the ENTIRE second half of the movie! Lol, I'm so bad when it comes to hindi movies, I don't think there's even one that I haven't cried in. Are you Indian? Or do you just know about hindi movies? (Either way would be awesome!) Glad you like Sharmila! Hope you'll like this chapter! (Good luck w/ur term paper!)

**kaleidoscope0-0eyes: **Thanks for reviewing! It was soo very long and wonderful! As to whether Lily likes James or vice-versa and all your other questions…well you'll just have to keep reading, won't you?? Heh heh heh… I'm so evil! Thanks so much for the idea about researching the slang, I found some really good stuff that's going to be in this chapter! I loved your story btw!

**LilyPotter**** ()**: That's like super awesome that you liked my story! Hehe thanks for reviewing! Thanks for the 70's slang ideas…I found some really good ones online!

**QuaintEssence****: **Yay for your reviews! You're the best! I don't know what was different about my writing…I wrote most of it on the way back from New Jersey on the most incredibly long and boring bus ride…maybe that's _good _for my imagination? Who knows, I work in strange ways lol. I wrote the "game plan" about skipping years and what-not at the end of the chapter so that everyone will read it (or most people…) I love your stories, it's a pleasure to review them! ;)

**child-of-scorpio: **Hello hello! Thank you, once again, for your very wonderful review! So happy that you liked it!

**EyesofEmerald****: **Hey, don't be sorry! 'Tis no problemo hehe…Thank you for reviewing! Super cool that you loved the chapter and that you've spread the word about my story! Thanks so much for helping me think of a prank and for the 70's lingo...you're super duper (hehe)

**shadowed.phoenix****: **Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love your reviews, they're always so thoughtful and wonderful! Hehe I love James too (we're pretending he's 16 for the moment lol) No worries about Remus, there's a lot of him coming up, I've just been trying to get Lily and James down…but we can't leave our favorite and hottest werewolf out of the story!!

Alright, now that reviews are done with (y'all are the _awesomest_reviewers ever!!) (hehe—y'all…)

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except perhaps a few characters and ideas here and there. JKR and whoever else owns all the good stuff. I also realize that the Slytherin prank has been used a countless number of times but I'm not much of a prankster myself. So I'm going to disclaim that also, it belongs to whoever first thought of it all those years ago…

Meeting Kate Potter

            The kids streamed out of the train in groups, all chatting excitedly about what they were going to do over break. Alice had taken control of the group of first years that were coming to the party (namely James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Sharmila, and Alice).

            "Okay kids!" she shouted over the noise, clapping her hands as if she were talking to 5-year-olds…and they were certainly _acting _like 5-year-olds. James and Sirius were jumping around with excess energy, conjuring up streamers and balloons while singing "Stayin' Alive," the new hit by the BeeGees, complete with John Travolta's hand motions from the movie, which Lily had showed them over Christmas Break. Sharmila was speaking so quickly that absolutely no one could understand her, something she tended to do when she got excited. Lily was trying her best to keep up a conversation with her friend but had ended up talking more to herself than anyone. Peter just looked lost, like he didn't know what to do with himself. He soon settled with watching Sirius and James and tried copying their moves, failing utterly in the process. Even Remus was hit with the party fever and had long ago abandoned his book, deciding instead to contribute to Sirius and James' decorations with some more elaborate and well-thought-out ones of his own.

            After they had been standing on the platform for 10 minutes with no improvement, Alice rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in defeat. Just then a loud and commanding voice reached their ears,

            "James Thomas Potter the tenth! _What _exactly do you think that you are doing?" the voice demanded. James and Sirius both dropped what they were doing immediately, knowing that tone of voice too well for their own liking. They then tried to clean up the mess they made before the owner of the voice came close enough to see how much damage they had done.

            "Sirius, you take the streamers and I'll take the balloons. Go!" James whispered urgently. However, they didn't get the job done and soon a large woman with a very menacing look on her face towered over the boys. They looked at each other fearfully and then turned their faces up simultaneously.

            "Y-y-y-yes, Mommy?" stuttered James carefully.

            "You boys," the woman said, stressing every word, "are a disgrace to the wizarding world. I don't know what it is that you are trying to do to me but whatever it is, it's working! I am furious…so much so that I'm thinking of suggesting you not attend the party." There were seven shocked gasps and Kate Potter looked up, noticing for the first time the other children.

            "Why hello there!" she greeted, her countenance rapidly becoming friendly and welcoming. "Who might you all be?" They stood still, a little stunned by the older woman, and were silent until Sharmila stepped forward.

            "Hi, you might not recognize me, but I've been to your parties, they're just dy-no-mite! I'm Sharmila Shah, daughter of Samir and Nina Shah, pleased to meet you." She extended her hand to the lady.

            "Ah, so you're Samir's youngest daughter…"

            "That I am. This is Alice Prewett, daughter of Andrew and Lucy Prewett, Peter Pettigrew, son of Pierce and Gabby Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin, son of Shaun and Claudia Lupin, and finally this is your neighbor, Lily Evans." Kate smiled at each of them and said,

            "Well, I'm delighted to have met you all. We're going to go over to platform 10 ½, where my husband Tom is waiting with the portkey. Boys, who do you think you are? Take the ladies' bags!" she demanded, the previous glare once again in her eyes.

            "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" chorused James and Sirius, bending over to pick up their friends' belongings. Kate winked at the girls, grinning, and then turned back to the boys.

            "Well, let's go! We don't have all day!"

            The kids arrived at the Potter house soon after. The party wasn't until the next day and they still had some time until they had to go to sleep. The girls found Kate to be quite sweet and took great pleasure later in teasing the boys about the control she held over them. Thomas Potter was a different story. He was strict as well, but not in the friendly and personal way that Kate was. Whereas Kate truly loved the boys and showed it, Thomas seemed removed from them and their lives.

            James' house was filled to the brim with relatives and friends, all milling around in anticipation for the party. In their time there the children encountered James' grandparents, a handful of aunts and uncles, a strange man named Dedalus Diggle, and many other guests, including Professor Dumbledore. They finally came upon Charlie, James' cousin and the organizer of the party, in the living room. There were a few house elves, playing around with various party decorations and looking very puzzled at all the new muggle decorations that Charlie had bought for the party.

            Charlie looked like he should have been helping them, but instead he was in the center of the mess snogging his girlfriend, who the kids recognized as Emmeline Vance, the current head girl at Hogwarts.

            "Charlie!" shouted James, running to jump on his back. When he saw what his favorite cousin was doing, however, he backed away, "Gross! Charlie, that's disgusting!" Charlie turned and the girls caught sight of what could only be described as an older version of James with blue eyes.

            "Jamie boy!" he exclaimed and ruffled James' hair affectionately. James grinned up at him adoringly.

            "Hey! When I call you that you hex me for ages! Why can _he _do it?" Sirius protested.

            "Sirius! Great to see you again, mate! And Lily! Been too long, my girl!" Charlie said happily. "And who are these lovely ladies and gentlemen?" he asked, turning to the other kids. Introductions were made all around and soon enough conversations were forming.

            "I'm telling you, Charlie, this is going to be the greatest prank ever! I mean, you've seen the ones Sirius and I've pulled off by ourselves…but _now_, now with Remus with us we're going to be amazing!" exclaimed James, his hazel eyes sparkling with excitement. "Oh, and Peter too, of course," he added, grinning at his friend, Peter smiled widely, happy to be acknowledged.

            "So what are you guys planning?"

            "Well, we've played a few on the Slytherins, but nothing too big yet," started Sirius. "We want to do something for their whole house…something really fantastic." Remus jumped in,

            "We were thinking making them sing a song about the superiority of Gryffindor or maybe changing the colors of their robes to scarlet and gold, something along those lines…"

            "Guys, I have something for you. I was planning on keeping it for a while but I feel that it will be put to good use by you boys…not to mention it'll help you a lot in your pranking," Charlie said, his eyes glinting mischievously. "James, your dad gave this to me when I first got into Hogwarts because my dad…well, yeah…" he broke off awkwardly. He began again quickly, covering up his hesitation. "I know for a fact that he wasn't expecting me to use it for the things that I did and that you all will no doubt use it for, but it's all good. He doesn't have to know, now does he? He can think what he likes…and we can use it to serve our own purposes!" he finished, his previous enthusiasm returned fully. "Come upstairs with me, the girls won't notice. Oh, _don't _by _any_ circumstance tell the girls about this!" he warned them, looking each of them in the eyes, three nodded solemnly and Peter shivered with fear.

            Meanwhile, Lily and Alice were listening attentively to Emmeline, who was telling them about being head girl. Secretly, each wished that they would be head girl in their seventh year and each knew that it would be a hard fight between the two of them. Sharmila was listening as well but was much more interested in becoming Quidditch captain than head girl.

            "So, you have to work really hard and the teachers have to like you, because they are the ones that choose. Try and get yourself involved in school activities and do things over the summer like community service. You'll also want to be very active in the student body and if you're not a prefect then you don't really have much of a chance," she informed them. "But don't let your schoolwork overwhelm you. I did in fifth year and I quite nearly went insane with all the work that I was doing! In sixth year I dropped out of Quidditch because it was too much, I still play occasionally, just not for the house team…" she continued. The two girls were looking up to her in awe; she was their new role model. The boys were now upstairs in Charlie's room leaning over and trying to see what the older boy was taking out of his trunk.

            "This boys, is my invisibility cloak," he proclaimed proudly, holding it up in front of him for the boys to admire. There were collective gasps of wonder and four pairs of hands reached out to touch it. Peter gave a little squeak,

            "I can't see my hand!"

            "That's because it's an _invisibility_ cloak, smart one!" exclaimed Sirius exasperatedly. "What did you _think _it did?"

            The boys spent the rest of the afternoon planning out pranks and the girls continued on to subjects such as Charlie, Charlie, and Charlie.

            Later that night they four boys were lying in their beds, too excited to sleep.

            "That's it!" exclaimed Sirius, "Let's play dare or dare!"

            "Sirius, I think it's truth or dare," offered Remus.

            "Yeah, but who would choose _truth_?" he scoffed and James grinned. Remus and Peter raised their hands tentatively in response. "Fine, fine, truth or dare. It'll be stupid but anything's better than just sitting here doing nothing…"

            After a few turns, Sirius had mooned James' back yard, James had run around his house screaming (at which he received a scolding from his very annoyed and tired mother), and even Remus had tried a mild dare (knocking on Charlie's door and telling him that he had an accident, even though they knew full well he was in there with Emmeline). It was James' turn as Peter had declined _again_.

            "Okay James ol' boy, I know what you can do. Go outside and yell at the top of your lungs that you love Lily Evans!"

            "What? NO!" James exclaimed vehemently.

            "Whoa, whoa, whoa, mellow out, man. It's just a dare. Unless little Jamie is too scared to take a little dare…" taunted Sirius. James squirmed in his chair a little.

            "But then she'll kno—think I like her! This would be completely wrong, of course, because I don't like her at all. I mean, of course I like her, as a friend, but I don't _like _her like her! I don't want her to get the wrong impression or anything. Because then she could become one of those really clingy and annoying girls who think that you like them but you really don't," babbled James.

            "And you wouldn't want that because you _don't _like her, right James?" asked Remus slowly.

            "Right! Well, no, but yes…you know what I mean!"

            "I don't think we do though, mate." James ran his hand through his hair nervously, and after some quick thinking, he realized that there was only one way to get out of this mess. He got up with a pillow in each hand and hit Sirius with both while declaring,

            "Pillow fight!" A war ensued with Remus and James against Peter and Sirius. The discussion was seemingly forgotten, but in truth lay quietly hidden the back of the minds of three of the boys: James nervously hoping it would never be brought up again, Remus smiling knowingly every time he thought of it, and Sirius logging it away for future use as black mail or something of the sort, Peter just forgot it. (Stupid Peter…)

A/N: So, what'd you think? The next one is on its way…don't worry! Review please! LOVE YOU ALL!


	8. Fight for your right to PARTY!

In the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Chapter 8, the PARTY! Enjoy!

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, _not _little Ms. Me. Atlanta Rhythm Section owns their song.

Fight for Your Right to PARTY!

When you walked to the room   
There was voodoo in the vibes  
I was captured by your style   
But I could not get your eyes   
Now I stand here helplessly   
Hoping you'll get into me   
I am so into you   
I can't think of nothing else

--"So Into You," by Atlanta Rhythm Section (70's music! Hehe)

The next day was spent running around and preparing for the party. The boys were employed performing tasks all over the house and the girls had a "prep day," which consisted of doing their nails, their hair, the little make-up they were allowed to wear, choosing their outfits and having an all-around great time. Finally it was time to head over to James' and the girls descended the stairs in Lily's house, ready and raring to go.

Alice was wearing a flowing white skirt with little flowers and a red top, Sharmila was wearing a white mini skirt with a pretty pink top, and Lily was wearing a lavender mini skirt with a white top. All three looked stunning even though they weren't wearing overly fancy clothes. Lily's parents fussed over them for a little while, reminding them that they would be over at 10 to pick them up. Lily rolled her eyes and grinned, her parents could be very stifling but she loved them anyway.

"Okay mom, we'll still be there at 10! We're not going to go anywhere or do anything and _all _of James' relatives are going to be watching us! Mellow out! We'll be fine!" she exclaimed. "Good night, we'll see you later!" She walked out and shut the door forcefully behind her. Once outside the three girls grinned at each other and ran to the other side of the street as fast as they could in their skirts. Lily rang the doorbell and the three stood in front of the huge doors. The butler, Oliver, opened the door for them and smiled warmly.

"Welcome ladies!" he greeted. They were just about to respond when four boys came bounding down the stairs. Sirius, Remus, and Peter kept running until they were practically on top of the girls and hugged them in excitement.

"Jinkies! You girls look great! Some foxy ladies we've got here!" Sirius whistled.

"Sirius Black!" Sharmila exclaimed, slapping him lightly on the arm. They didn't notice that James had stopped halfway down the stairs, his eyes resting on Lily and Lily alone. After a few seconds he was jolted out of his reverie by Sirius' voice shouting,

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head into the living room and get ready for the surprise." James ran down the rest of the stairs and looked at Lily, feeling his other side take over, the side of him that both he and Lily hated.

"Lily, baby! You look gorgeous tonight!" He ran his hand through his hair and then tried to slip it around her waist and give her a kiss. Lily squirmed and moved back,

"James! What's wrong with you? Leave me alone!" Lily walked into the room with a scowl on her face, annoyed at James for his sneaky moves and confused by his sudden change in attitude. James fell back and Remus remained with him.

"James, what was _that_ all about?" he asked the messy-haired boy in a concerned voice.

"I…I don't really know. It's like something came over me when I saw her standing there—she looks so beautiful—and I couldn't think straight! Then I tried to impress her but…but you saw…it failed miserably." He hung his head in shame.

"James, you know that she likes you for you, not for your arrogant and annoying side. She only gets mad at you when you put on an act. Try to be nice to her tonight…" Remus suggested carefully.

"I know, I'll try."

"Okay, well let's head in, so _some _of us can have fun!" he teased and the two boys entered the room. James was surrounded at once by friends and family and thoughts of Lily were pushed to the back of his mind.

Lily finished dancing with a final swing of her hips and laughed with her friends. As she turned to push her way off of the dance floor she faintly heard their protests behind her, but she wasn't listening to them. She just wasn't in the mood for dancing and the façade that she had been crafting all night long was rapidly falling away. She needed to get out. Lily pushed her way through the mass of sweaty bodies and finally stumbled into the hallway of the Potter mansion. She looked around her at the dignified faces of James' many ancestors and sighed, remembering his behavior from earlier that evening. It wasn't as though he had never hit on her before, he was always making jokes about them being together, but the expression on his face that time was just…scary. When he looked at her he was no longer the funny and cute James that was her best friend. No, this James was the mean and frankly quite frightening one that Lily avoided as much as possible. She saw that side of him come out often when he was talking to (or more likely pranking) Slytherins or when he was feeling particularly cocky. He had never hit on her while in _that_ mood before and she was worried, both for herself and for him. These were the thoughts that Lily was lost in as she wandered down the hall in the pretext of searching for a bathroom and as she bumped into Emmeline Vance.

"Oh, so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!" Lily exclaimed, flustered.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. What's the matter? You look worried about something…" Emmeline probed, sounding like a caring older sister.

"Certainly not _my_ older sister," thought Lily bitterly, scowling at the thought of Petunia. Out loud she replied vaguely,

"Oh, well, it's nothing really…"

"If you're planning on walking around with that on your shoulders for the next few hours, you're not going to have any fun what-so-ever. Come on, tell me what the problem is," she implored.

"It's not really a problem, per se, just James. I mean, he's my best friend but sometimes, I don't know, he turns into a different person or something. It sounds crazy. Don't listen to me," Lily trailed off quite uncertainly.

"That's not crazy. What did he do to make you think this?" Lily proceeded to relate her thoughts of the previous moments to the older girl, who added appropriate comments here and there. When Lily was done Emmeline said simply,

"Well, you better talk to him about it, don't you think?"

"Easier said than done," Lily scoffed.

"Come _on_, we're going back in there now and I'm going to drag you over to James. If I have any say in the matter what-so-ever, you _will_ talk to James Potter tonight about this problem," she proclaimed in a no-nonsense tone that reminded Lily strongly of her mother.

A few moments later, James had joined Lily in the hall and Emmeline was nowhere to be found.

"Hey James…" Lily began.

"Lily, what am I doing out here?" James asked, exasperated.

"Uh…James, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"No really?" he replied sarcastically. "I didn't figure _that_ one out!"

"James! Stop being so uncooperative. This isn't exactly that easy for me to tell you!" Lily exploded.

"Well, I've only been standing out here for like 10 billion _years_ waiting for you!" he retorted.

"_Sorry_ if I've taken your _precious_ time! This is just what I wanted to talk to you about—your absolutely disgusting and revolting attitude! Why do you act like this James? This isn't you, I know you!" Her voice dropped to a mere whisper, "Why do you change into this monster?" For a moment James haughty exterior fell and she caught sight of her friend. As quickly as it had dropped he built it back up, though, and Lily was left with the other side again.

"Do what, Lily? I'm the same person I was five seconds ago! Unless I have an evil twin who's able to spontaneously change places with me, I haven't gone anywhere! I don't know what you're talking about," he declared stubbornly. Lily looked into his eyes aching with hurt,

"You're too stubborn James Potter. You're too stubborn and too proud. Talk to me again when you're ready to admit that fact!" she said forcefully and then turned away, her eyes wet with unshed tears. She pushed back into the party and walked up to Emmeline.

"Thank you for helping me realize what a jerk he truly is," she told the other girl, her voice cracking a little with anger. "I'm going home, could you tell my friends?" Emmeline nodded and gave Lily a short but very tight hug before letting her go home to her bedroom.

James was still standing in the hallway when Lily stormed out of the house and he watched her go, not saying a word.

"Why? Why? Why? Why am I such an idiot? Why do I always mess up with her? I _know_ I'm different when she's around but why am I? How does she do that to me? I have to repay her," he decided. After a while of debating what the best way to accomplish such an enormous deed, because he did realize how greatly he had messed up, he finally decided, "I'll ask her out! What better repayment is there than a date with _the _James Potter?"

A/N: I know, I know, James is an _idiot_! But if he wasn't then there would be no story would there?

That was a much more emotional scene than anything I've written in this story before…feedback please? Do you think that I overdid it or didn't do it enough? Do their reasons make sense and if not, why not and what can I do to change it? I'd love to make this better so I appreciate anything you tell me (criticisms welcome! As long as they have some backing to them…I had this horrible person who reviewed over the weekend who just said that the story was bad. It was such a dumb and pointless review that I didn't bother to reply to it and simply deleted it. I know that you wonderful reviewers of mine are _much _better than that, I just needed to get the ranting out of my system…)

NOW….the chapter's over (as well as my endless rant)…_you know what to do_…REVIEW! (There are just so many things that rhyme with review!)


	9. The Plan is Foiled

In the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Guess what I just saw???? HARRY POTTER!!! Wow, I'm so incredibly hyper right now!!! So what did everyone think? If you feel like chatting, add it in your _review_ or email me! Sujiffyahoo.com Now, where was I? Right, so I enjoyed it, I thought they did a pretty good job and that Daniel Radcliffe is hot!!! (When did this happen? B/c I def didn't think this in the other movies…) I didn't like the actors that played Sirius and Remus (they're supposed to be good-looking! Sirius is soooo ugly—did you see his forehead?). Also, where was Ginny? She had like one line! And the sexual stuff (Hermione _falling _on Harry and _clinging _to Ron?? I think not…) really got to me. Okay, I'll shut up now so you can read the chapter lol

            Yeah, so that was from when I _started _the chappie, like ten million years ago…I'm sorry, my computer had a virus!! What to do??

**kaleidoscope0-0eyes:** Thank you for the reviews! Yup, these chapters are at Hogwarts. I think I'll have maybe two here and then we've got the summer (which I have a really cool idea for…) and after that they're at school for a while (unless plans change). Thanks so much for the reassurance, I've decided that the person who gave me the bad review is a loser (hehe) and they don't even deserve to be remembered—so, forget them!! ;)

**WotcherHarry:** Hey! I love your reviews they're so long and absolutely wonderful!! I'm definitely going to email you, I just haven't gotten a chance yet (finals!!)…Yeah, about the scene last chap, I was worried about their age but it had to happen. Thanks for the tip on James, it was just that I decided to skip to Spring Break to get the plot moving so he hasn't really had a chance to be arrogant…and just to let you know I am _definitely _suffering from OOHPS also! (just read the thing about the movie above lol, I could've gone on for years…) and Love/Hate rocks!!

**EyesofEmerald: **Jinkies! You're the grooviest! Hehehehehe, wow I amuse myself lol…thanks so much for the reviews, glad you're enjoying it ;)

**child-of-scorpio:** Muchas Gracias for your review! Glad you liked the pillow fight hehe

**Molly:** Hey, thanks for reviewing! I see what you mean, thanks so much for suggesting things I can do to improve the story. I agree with you about the amount of time first year is taking up (it really wasn't supposed to take this long to get started!). Hopefully now that the plot has actually begun it'll go quicker. I'm not going to go through all of the years, I'm going to skip to 5th after this summer I believe, and I have lots in store for later!

Are y'all aware that I have FIFTY reviews?? FIFTY! How cool is that?? Love you all!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, not even Ave María, a super amazing song that is owned by David Bisbal.

The Plan Is Foiled

Y cuando yo te veo, no sé lo que siento, (When I see you, I don't know what I feel)

Y cuando yo te tengo, me quemo por dentro, (When I have you, I burn inside)

Y más y más de ti yo enamoro, (And I win your love more and more)

Tú eres lo que quiero, (You are what I want)

¡Tú eres mi tesoro! (You are my treasure)

Ave María, ¿Cuándo serás mía? (Oh, Maria, when will you be mine?)

Si me quisieras, todo te daría (If you want me, I'll give you everything)

Ave María, ¿Cuándo serás mía? (Oh Maria, when will you be mine?)

Al mismo cielo, yo te llevaría. (I'll lift you to the same sky)

--David Bisbal, "Ave María" (Sorry, but I really couldn't translate it well! I tried…I just happened to be listening to it while I was writing the chapter and decided to stick it in hehe)

            The children had returned from their vacation, filled with excitement left over from their first "real" party yet worrying about the two best friends who had yet to make up. Lily was constantly mad at James and the two were always getting into dumb arguments. However, none of their friends knew what exactly had transpired that night after the party. Meanwhile, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were refining their fine art of pranking and secretly James was figuring out the best time and manner in which to approach Lily and set his plan of winning a date (and her forgiveness) into motion.

            On the very last day of school, a loud, obnoxious laugh rang through the hallways of Hogwarts.

            "What do you have to say to that, Snivellus?" James taunted as he towered over a puny boy with greasy hair and an abnormally large nose (PoA!! hehehe). "Sirius, I love it. Snivellus! That's just great, it suits him perfectly!" Sirius grinned,

            "I guess it was just my inner genius." The two boys snickered and James turned back to the small boy, who was trying to sneak away from them.

            "Where do you think you're going, Snape?" James demanded. "We're not done with you!"

            "Oh, I think you are…James Thomas Potter the tenth, _what_ exactly do you think you're doing?" came a woman's voice.

            "Mom?" asked James, turning around at the same time Sirius did the same thing saying,

            "Kate?" They were shocked to find not an angry Mrs. Potter but rather an angry Lily Evans.

            "Oh, thank God it's just you, Lily, you really scared me there!" exclaimed James, running a hand through his hair. Lily just glared.

            "Just because your mother is not here does _not_ mean that you can just take advantage of poor souls like this! You are being cruel and heartless, torturing this kid when he's done nothing to you! Leave him alone!"

            "I don't need you to stick up for me," Snape growled. Lily was taken aback by his rudeness.

            "Fine then, get out of here!" she yelled at him. He did so gladly and Lily was left with the two boys.

            "Really, Lily, I don't know why you were making such a big deal out of it! It's not like we actually _did _anything to him, and even if we did he's so greasy and nasty he deserves it anyway! We could've done much more," James bragged, once again running his hand through his hair.     

            "I don't care what you did do, what you didn't do, and what you could've done, James. The fact is that you were bullying another kid and that is a despicable quality to have," she began to say more but Sirius quickly interrupted.

            "Dearest Lily, we are terribly sorry that we offended you. We really didn't mean anything by it. We were just having some fun."

            "Well, next time try to have fun in some other way," she pleaded. "I really don't like to see you guys bully someone else, it just brings you down to their level!"

            "Next time we'll just do it where you can't find us then," James added, winking in what he believed was a very cute manner. Lily turned to him,

            "You just…just...ugh!" She threw up her hands in defeat and stalked away. Sirius said to James through sniggering,

            "How do you always manage to act so _dumb_ around her?" James glared at him and began to walk away. "Forget her, mate," Sirius said, catching up to him and clapping a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Let's go get something to eat and talk about the Quidditch World Cup this summer!"

             Lily stalked into the dining hall with Sharmila and Alice behind her. They shared a look as Lily avoided the Gryffindor table again, as she was prone to do whenever she had a fight with James, which, it seemed, was almost every day.

            "Lily, you've _got_ to tell us what happened with him! It's been going on too long and it's not good to keep something like that to yourself!" Alice persuaded.

            "Oh, look, there's Lucas! I'm going to sit with him, you guys coming?" Lily exclaimed, pointedly ignoring her friend's question.

            "Lily!"

            "No, Lily, we're not going to sit with you," replied Sharmila, cutting off Alice. "We're going to sit with Sirius and Remus. You know, our other friends who you've been neglecting lately because they're friends with your _best friend_ James?" she retorted bitterly.

            "That's nice, Sharmila. I'll see you guys after dinner!" She waved and walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

            "She's just so infuriating!" Sharmila protested. "Why won't she tell us what's going on?"

            "I don't think she _knows_ what's going on…" suggested Alice softly.

            "Hey Lucas!" Lily said brightly, sitting down next to the cute brown-haired boy. He glanced up at her, looking slightly startled and flustered. Lily frowned for a second, but then shrugged it off, "What's going on?"

            "N-n-n-nothing much…" he stuttered out, turning to Nikhil for back-up. Nikhil winked and began a conversation with Lily, leaving the emerald-eyed girl to wonder what was going on with them. However, all was soon forgotten as Nikhil was soon explaining in great detail the _Animagi_ concert that he had gone to over the break.

            From the next table over, a certain messy-haired Gryffindor boy was watching the interaction between the other first-years suspiciously.

            "James! What's with you, mate?" Peter asked, poking James in the side with his spoon, which happened to be filled with potato.

            "Ugh, Peter! You're getting my robes dirty!" James scolded, turning anxiously to his new set of robes, worn especially to impress that night. "I'm going to the bathroom to clean up," he said, turning to glare at Peter.

            "Hey, I'll come with you," Sirius offered, never one to pass up a chance to admire his devilishly handsome face. Remus grinned at the two incredibly arrogant boys and turned back to his dinner, assuring Peter, who was looking right nervous at having angered James,

            "Don't worry Pete, they're too egotistical for their own good…"

            "So, Jamie, what exactly _were_ you staring at?" Sirius prodded, knowing full well that it was Lily. "Or should I say _who_?" Suddenly Sirius stopped and turned around sharply. "Jinkies! James, you're going to the bathroom because you want to impress Lily! _That's_ why you wore your fancy-shmancy robes tonight! Wow, Sirius, you are good!" he informed himself. James simply blushed a deep red color.

            "C'mon, let's get to the bathroom and I'll tell you." Sirius nodded and started jogging to the bathroom. Once there he turned on James again. "I'm going to ask Lily out," James stated simply, no longer nervous about saying it, it was just _Sirius_ for God's sake. If he was nervous about telling his best friend, how would he do actually saying it to _Lily_? Sirius' jaw dropped,

            "I _knew_ it!" he shouted after a moment of shocked silence. James rolled his eyes and continued moving his hair this way and that, trying to get his hair to go where he wanted for once. "So, you're doing it now?"

            "Well, yeah, I was planning on it…" James started uncertainly. "I better do it soon before one of those _Ravenclaw_ boys does!" he exclaimed with a tone that was suddenly very bitter. Sirius grinned and nodded,

            "She's been spending _way_ too much time with them lately," he agreed, backing up his friend as always. "But, James, how do you plan on getting her to say yes? I mean, if you haven't noticed, she's kinda not speaking to you at the moment…or if she does she's yelling at you for some bad thing you've just done," Sirius said, pointing out the obvious.

            "Well, as to getting her to say yes, who in their right mind _wouldn't_ say yes to a date with _the_ James Potter? And about her not speaking to me, I'm sure we can snog quite easily without having to say a word!" he exclaimed, grinning at his own brilliance. Sirius laughed and replied as the two boys left the bathroom,

            "Whatever you say, mate. I'll distract those despicable Ravenclaws for you." James nodded at his friend and an unspoken understanding passed between the two boys.

            "And then, the lead singer, who's animagus form is an eagle, picked me up! It was dy-no-mite! He was holding my shirt in his claws and we just soared, it was so gravy!"

            "Far out!" exclaimed Lily, entranced by the description and wishing that she had ditched the party, since nothing good had come of it anyway, and gone to the concert, which the Ravenclaw boys had invited her to, instead. Lucas made a motion behind Lily's back and Nikhil promptly got up and stretched.

            "Well, Lils, I'm beat, I'll tell you the rest later. G'night!" he said, leaving in a hurry. Lily waved to him and turned to Lucas.

            "So…do you w-w-want to head back too?" Lucas asked.

            "Yeah, sure," Lily replied as she shot him a look at his strange behavior.

            Over at the Gryffindor table, James jumped up upon seeing the two heading out.

            "Look! She's leaving with that Lovegood fellow!" he exclaimed with contempt.

            "Go get 'er, Jaimie boy!" Sirius cheered. He then climbed on top of the table and attempted to start a wave. When all he received was blank looks, he simply shrugged and jumped off the table, leaving some crushed salad in his wake. He then sat down and dug into the rest of his dinner as if nothing out-of-the-ordinary had happened. Meanwhile, James was bounding towards the front doors, determined to "go get 'er."

            Lily and Lucas strolled away from the dining hall and when they reached the foot of the stairs, Lucas stopped. Lily looked at him, hoping that he would finally tell her what had been bothering him all evening. At the same time James reached them, breathing a little heavier than usual from his short sprint. He got his breath and was about to open his mouth to call to Lily when,

            "Willyougooutwithme?" tumbled out of the Ravenclaw's mouth.

            "Pardon?" Lily replied as James stood in shock, wishing beyond all hope that he had misheard the boy. Lucas cleared his throat and repeated with much more confidence,

            "Lily, will you go out with me?" James made a strangled noise behind him and Lily looked up suddenly, catching sight of James behind Lucas.

            "James? What do you want?" she spat, momentarily forgetting about the Lucas Situation. Her face softened, however, when she saw the confident and arrogant first year's face fall. For a moment she glimpsed the scared and vulnerable James she had only seen once before, in very unfortunate situations. "James?" she said again, softer this time. He shook his head and then turned and fled. He ran up the stairs and, at the entrance to the common room, bowled over head-first into Peter.

            "James," he acknowledged, too depressed at the moment to really notice his friend. He waited for a moment and soon became puzzled at the lack of response and at James' appearance. "Hey man…what's wrong?" he asked after a moment's silence, a very worried expression settling on his face. This James was not the strong, powerful, or head-strong friend who he depended on and who he happened to need at the moment. He put his hand on the messy-haired boy's shoulder hesitatingly. James looked up and blinked a few times. All of a sudden _The _James Potter was back.

            "Hey Pete! Why so glum?" he asked, putting aside his trouble's for his friend's.

            "I…I…I just heard that there's something wrong with my mum. And I don't know what it is! It's scary, you know? 'Cause she's a muggle so we can't use magic on her. And my dad's really worried, I can tell from this…this…this…" he waved a piece of paper in front of him and then collapsed, sobbing in front of James.

            "Woah, woah, Peter, slow down, mate. I'm sure that your mom will be fine. Let me see that letter." He plucked it easily from the weak boy's hands and read it slowly.

Peter:

I am writing to inform you that your mother is deathly ill. I don't know what we're going to do without her….I would like your help over here at the house. But since you are coming home soon anyway, you will not have to leave school early. Of course, you might not be here to see her last days. Too bad. It's your fault anyway. You know that she's been sick ever since she had you! You're a horrible and pathetic child. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

The letter then turned into some random scribblings, through which James was able to discern a few very hateful words. He stared at the letter in shock and then looked down toward his friend, curled up in a ball on the floor.

            "Let's head up to the dorm…a little sleep will do you well…" James offered, helping his friend up. He walked with him to their dorm and settled him into his bed. He then listened to him and waited with him until he fell asleep. Later that night he recounted the whole story to Remus and Sirius.

            "It was as if he was originally just writing to tell him, in the beginning it seemed like he was just helpless and lost. But then as he went on he became more and more assured that it was all Peter's fault. The end was just horrible…" he trailed off, shuddering. The three boys talked into the early morning hours, debating what to say to their friend and how to lift his spirits even the slightest bit before their train ride the next day. Lily was not mentioned the whole night.

Wow I'm finally done. That chapter took a very long time to write and to finally finish off and post…please do read and review! I will love you forever!

Hehe 70's slang, meaning great

More 70's slang, pretty much means "sweet"

You guessed it, 70's slang: "cool"

"Let's go"


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